MovieChat Forums > Gwendoline (1985) Discussion > What a Weird Vote vs Demographic Result!

What a Weird Vote vs Demographic Result!

posted 15 years ago by whynot2
3 replies | jump to latest

OK, so I got to 'revisit' Gwendoline when my mail-order rental DVD finally came, and that was fun... and it also got me onto the treadmill for a few days in a row.

Then, I visited IMDB, to contemplate commenting, register a vote and so on, and that's when things got weird.

If you look at the detailed voting, apparently 648 males rated it and only 33 females. No surprise there, given the cultish nature of this delightful little piece of camp.

But then: the average rating by females is 5.9 vs. 4.7 by males. The females ranked it 1.2 points HIGHER than males. I know the sample is quite small, but on the other hand, females ranked it higher in every age group! Except the under 18 which had only 1 voter of each gender (and the MPAA and Homeland Security is looking for you and your parents as I'm writing this).

So, someone explain to me: do women actually like this movie more than men? Why? Is Brent Huff that hot? Was it the delightfully corny romantic aspect? The B&D flavour? The big hair?

I am beside myself with bemusement and curiosity.

Have I squandered years of opportunity, sitting through a weekly quota of rom-coms, when it turns out, my wife would enjoy Gwendoline's perils even more than I did???

[–] grendelkhan 13 years ago

The likely explanation is that the women who were interested in the film were probably fetishists who were attracted to the eroticism (though its pretty tame, even for a movie). Therefore, they were likely to enjoy it more for the kinky aspects and might have enjoyed some of the camp. Males were probably looking for more sex (in a great number of cases) and were sadly disappointed. There is no sex in John Willie's original strips, just fetishism. Then, there is probably a certain percentage of males who were attracted by the trashy nature and others for the camp.

I remember seeing the trailer for it, though the erotic aspects weren't included. It just looked like an Indiana Jones rip-off. By the time I saw it in a video store (circa 1989) I knew about Sweet Gwendoline and was curious to see how they adapted it. I was pretty bored, as the Indy adventure was poorly staged, and the kinky stuff was rather bland and soulless. Willie's stuff had more life too it (though it was mostly melodrama). Jaekin seemed more influenced by both Barbarella and the Eric Stanton Gwendoline spoof, Sweeter Gwen (same basic story, but more comedy). The original Gwendoline was never an exotic adventure, though. It was a straight melodrama about Sir Distic D'Arcy trying to steal Gwendoline's family farm from her, with the help of the Countess. Gwendoline is aided by the mysterious Agent U89 (originally intended as U69, but Irving Klaw balked at the name). The second gwendoline strip is about a horse race, where Sir D'Arcy is trying to prevent Gwendoline from winning. There was a third unfinished story, where Gwendoline is substituted for a look-alike princess.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."-Groucho

[–] dumpington 12 years ago

This film badly needed a girl/girl sexual encounter between either Gwendoline and the Queen or perhaps even Beth & Gwendoline.

Apparently it was supposed to include one, but actress Tawny Kitaen didn't want to do it so they changed the script. And the entire film suffered as a result.

[–] nance_g 12 years ago

I'm a 30 years old women, I like this movie for the kitsch style. It's a dumb movie, but fun too if you put your brain off. The guy is hot for sure, but I don't mind see women naked too. Showgirls is one of my guilty pleasure movie and I watch Barbarella often. I maybe don't like Gwendoline as much as them, but it was still a good watch.

If your wife like kitschy movie and don't care about semi-erotism, why not?

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